Tainted
by Cal Sathe
Summary: There were side effects from the magic caused by the Time compression, and now that Seifer’s back, things are getting even more troublesome. SeiferXZell
1. Chapter 1

**Plot: There were side effects from the magic caused by the Time compression, and now that Seifer's back, things are getting even more troublesome. **

**Warnings: Yaoi (SefierXZell)**

**Disclaimer: Final Fantasy VII and all it's characters are owned by Squaresoft or SquareEnix or whatever they want to call themselves. I'm making no money from this, but if you want to sue I've got a $20 bill and… (cleans out pocket) 16 cents. **

Tainted – Part 1 

Quistis let out a shivering breath as she pulled her too-thin SeeD jacket tighter to her skin. A cloud of breath blinded her for a moment as she pushed the door open to the commander's office. Thick layers of ice covered every surface in the Ice Prince's room. The walls reflected the little sun light that made it into the frozen cavern. The ceiling creaked with every sound echoed through the garden, threatening with the giant icicles that hung from it. No wooden, or metal, or glass furniture dawned the room, all of it quickly destroyed and replaced by the ice that dominated the room for the past few years.

The blonde instructor took careful steps so not to slip on the slick floor, approaching the pale figure seated on his frigid throne.

"Commander."

Ice blue eyes glanced up from the paperwork, a new set of chills coming over her as they settled on her.

'_Instructor Trepe.'_

She gave a hard shiver.

"We caught him."

1 1 1 

Zell stared down at the unconscious form of his archenemy. Two and a half years since the defeat of Ultimicia. Two and a half years of dealing with unknown magics. Two and a half years of becoming mortal Gods. Two and a half years since the large blond disappeared. Two and a half years that have not been good on Seifer Almasy.

The scarred blonde looked… horrendous. Like he had aged 30 years instead of just 30 months. Age lines and wrinkles reached the edges of his eyes, mouth and forehead. His hair hung limp and broken around his pale and far too baggy face. Deep circles hung low onto his cheeks, his lips cracked, his eyes hollow, and his entire body structure seemed to lack its strength and demand for dominance that it once held.

Zell's thoughts were scattered as he heard the door to the informatory wizz open, the room suddenly plunging 20 degrees colder.

"Commander Leonhart! This is the informatory, and it would be best if all of my patients did _not _die of pneumonia." Dr. Kadowaki jeered, moving to turn up the heat.

Pretending to ignore the doctor, but the gentle rise in temperature proved otherwise, he and Quistis, who had walked in behind him, moved over to the side of the bed that the missing blond now laid on.

"Where was he?" The commander's monotone voice sounded, his voice as cold and unfeeling as his the ice that his eyes reflected.

"Deling." Zell replied, "Apparently he's been playing escort for some excavators throughout the Tomb of the Unknown King. After trailing him for a few hours throughout the tomb Irvine and I finally cornered him. He was a _bit—_ah… extremely hard to finally catch."

Squall's attention quickly turned up to Zell before falling back down and focusing for closely onto Seifer. "Why is that?"

Quistis continued, "Commander… we believe he might have been tainted by the time compression as well."

"He can move incredibly fast," Zell continued, relating all the wonders he saw not hours before, "even Irvine had a tough time keeping track of him. He could even cause a person to become completely immobile, and has the ability to fly… well… float. We managed to corner him and knock him out."

Quistis cleared her throat, stern eyes giving the blond a look.

Zell's face fell slightly, a gloved hand reacting up to scratch the back of his head. "But… I kinda… went berserk and started striking everything."

Squall's eyes narrowed, the small blond's reaction not at all to his liking. "What else did you hit?"

His head dropped lower, "Uh… Irvine's in the next room."

Squall's eye's hardened over, the temperature slowly starting to drop again. "You put another teammate in the informatory…" It was a statement, not a question. "You've been warned about the consequences if you got out of control aga—"

"Commander!" Dr. Kadowaki flitted into the room, "If you would please," clouds of breath escaping from her, "leave before everyone here gets frost bite." Then exiting the room again to crank the temperature. It wasn't a request, it was an order. When in the informatory, the title of commander had no more meaning to her than 'cadet', _she_ was the one in charge.

Turning to the tattooed blond, he stared coldly at the shivering man, "Come to my office." Then turned on his heals and stalked out the door, it closing behind him with a _wizz_.

"Shit!" Zell cursed, before following behind the angered Ice Prince at a much slower pace.

1 1 1 

The first thing he noticed as he woke was that his entire body ached. The second being that he was lying in a bed… that had sheets on it no less. The third was a voice that was whispering above him.

"… suspend… violated probati-… vine!"

"… Kadowaki…" It was a second voice, now coming in a little louder, "… just fine… tomorrow…"

"I'll talk…" A third voice… is that… Trepe? "…Squall later." Squall? Leonhart? There was a moment of silence, "He's awake."

"Seifer?" Rin?

"Almasy…?"

"….chicken wuss…?"

1 1 1 

Zell let out a scowl as the blond muttered his taunt. It figured… the blond wakes up and the first thing he has to say is _that _god damned nick-name. _Like my day could get any worse._

"I'll get Kadowaki." He murmured as he stood from his chair and went to find the doctor. Quistis gave him a sad look before turning back to the blond who was attempting to sit up.

"What happened?" Seifer rasped out, husky voice still weak. Finally glancing around at his surroundings, he seemed to wake up, "How the hell did I get back here?"

"Zell and Irvine brought you back." Quistis explained, taking Zell's empty chair.

"Chicken-wuss and Marlboro man…?" Quistis glowered for a moment then nodded.

"So why does it feel like I was used as Quezacotl's target practice?"

A quiet chuckle was heard and Seifer looked to see Rinoa sitting on his other side, a small amused smile playing across her mouth. "You kinda were."

The aching man turned to the raven, who was still chuckling to herself. "…What?"

Before she could explained, the door _wizzed_ open, the doctor and Zell appearing into the room.

"All right ladies, out!" she ushered, taking a seat beside her patient as the two women stood form their chairs.

_'Don't go far.'_

Quistis turned to Zell as she passed, nodding, "We'll be right outside." She whispered.

"Chicken Wuss!"

The blond went ridged for a moment before turning to the older blond in the bed. His shirt had come off and was currently being harassed by the older women with the stethoscope that seemed to have come right from the freezer.

"Did you're hair get spikier?"

Zell folded his arms, "Did your face get uglier?"

Seifer smirked; even the wrinkles that covered his face didn't make it any less taunting. "Don't worry yourself, chicken. My beautiful face will be back to normal in no time."

"Oh, thank Hyne for that," the smaller blonde retorted, sarcastically.

"I don't know, Mr. Almasy," Dr. Kadowaki spoke, hanging her scope around her neck. "Whatever you've done in the past 2 years has not been good for you. You're vital signs look more like that of a 50 year old than a 20 year old."

Seifer scoffed, "Trust me… I know. I've been trying to fix it since I woke up."

Zell cocked an eyebrow as the doctor shoved a thermometer under her patient's tongue. "Fix it…?"

"Did I shtutter?" Seifer replied around the piece of glass protruding from his mouth. Zell cracked a tiny smirk at the slur, before getting back to the topic at hand.

"What the hell do you mean by 'fix it'?"

"Who would have thought that something good could have come out of that entire war."

Zell's eyes snapped open at that, the lights in the room flickering for a moment as a serge of anger shooting through him. "Good… Good!? Hundreds of people are dead, cities are in ruin, space monsters are running rampant all over the planet, and you think that's good!?"

Seifer barely managed to hide the flinch as he was reminded again of his crimes, "That wasn't what I was referring too."

"Oh you're right… maybe it was how you fed your girl friend to a sorceress, or tortured Squall for god knows how long."

"No."

"Was it the children you murdered?"

"No! Chicken—"

"The elderly then?"

"Chicken! Shu—"

"Or did you just like the pretty colors Trabia made when you ble—"

Zell never got to finish his sentence as he found himself slammed into the far wall, Seifer's hands tightening fatally on his neck. It happened so fast, Zell had never seen the other blond even begin to move, but now he was clear across the room, dangling him from his neck.

"I _never_ found any pleasure in that." Seifer seethed, his voice above a whisper, eyes glowing with this anger held behind them.

As fast as Seifer had attacked, he was torn away, his back slamming into the wall opposite the choking blond. Zell fell to the ground, couching and gripping his bruised neck as the door _wizzed _open and Quistis and Rinoa rushed in.

Quistis went to stand before Seifer, her hand stretched out in front of her to keep the large blond at bay, who struggled against his invisible bonds. Rinoa stood beside her, eyes closed in concentration for a moment before turning to Quistis, nodding.

Dropping her hand, the large blond was released from his binds, and slumped to the floor. Turning to Zell, who was leaning back against the wall, Dr. Kadowaki carefully looking over the marks on his neck. She knelt down beside him, a moment later joined by Rinoa.

"I'm sorry Zell," the raven apologized, eyes glistening with remorse. "I wasn't expecting his magic to grow jump suddenly like that."

Couching lightly, he smiled painfully at the girl, "It's alright Rin. I sorta provoked it."

Quistis gave him a look before standing. "I'm going to go inform the commander, he'll probably want to move him to the basement."

Nodding as much as he was able to, he stood up and followed the doctor to the other room, were she kept an ointment to use for his neck. Rinoa was left alone with the hard breathing ex-knight. She sat on his bed, watching him silently as he readjusted his position and turned to look out the window, large dark storm clouds just seeming to disperse. It had taken her a moment, but she then realized that the 50 year old face that had adorned the handsome visage not half an hour before was now replaced with the much more familiar one of a 20 year old.

TBC 

**Ok… R&R please! **

**If you're confused… it's explained in the next chapter. Promise!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Plot: There were side effects from the magic caused by the Time compression, and now that Seifer's back, things are getting even more troublesome. **

**Warnings: Yaoi (SefierXZell)**

**Disclaimer: Final Fantasy VII and all it's characters are owned by Squaresoft or SquareEnix or whatever they want to call themselves. I'm making no money from this, but if you want to sue I've got a $20 bill and… (cleans out pocket) 16 cents. **

**AN: Ok… I hate these st00pid explanatory chapters. So… I kinda wizzed through it. If you still wanna read it then by all means do, but I give a quick summary at the end if you don't feel like suffering through it. **

Tainted – Part 2

Seifer entered the conference room as the doors _wizzed _open in front of him, Zell following close behind. They were the lasts one's to arrive it seemed, as all the other's sat around the room, waiting patiently for the final members of this meeting to arrive.

It had been a week since Seifer was caught, and after his short stay in the informatory, he had been caged down in the basement of the garden, which had been rebuilt into a make-shift prison for all those criminals caught by the garden, until Galbadia came to pick them up and bring them to the desert prison. His constant companion for the week, much to both of their discern, was none other than the chicken wuss, who tried his hardest to ignore the larger blond the entire time.

Zell, along with the rest of the group, Seifer noticed, looked different. Like, more different than just two years of aging should being. The smaller blond's hair had grown a bit but instead of just the front standing up, his entire head seemed to defy the rules of gravity. His skin was a few shades darker, making his golden spikes stand out a bit. He was a few inches taller, but still stood nearly a head under the larger blonde. The tattoo had seemed to have… grown as well, caressing his neck lightly and even traveling up his head to stain some of his hair, giving him a few black streaks on his left side. Above all, his normally grass green eyes now held a bight honey color, bringing an entire golden hugh to his being.

Rinoa had been the most common visitor, usually coming to adjust the magic suppressing cuffs that Seifer still wore about each wrist. The sorceress in her was starting to appear, tiny blue tattoos created from her magic appearing at the edges of her eyes. Her eyes themselves gaining a slight golden tint, the beginnings of the traditional sorceress' golden eyes. Her hair was longer; of course, her normal bleach spots now a natural glistening silver. She looked… majestic.

Quistis had usually been a common visitor too, although more along the lines of playing messenger for the Ice Prince. Out of everyone from the old group, she had changed the least. She still wore her hair in the same style, still had the same frames for her glasses, still the ever mothering instructor that she had always been. The only thing that _did _change about her was her body structure. She always was one of the skinny ones, but now she looked almost… frail. There was more than one occasion that her legs gave out from under her, but she caught herself quick enough and continued along like she hadn't just tripped over herself in the first place.

The Commander had also made a few appearances, and who would have thought that the Ice Prince could have become even colder. The already pale man was now nearly white, his lips holding a tinge of blue. Even his very presence was cold, forcing Seifer to pull on his trench coat for each of his visits. But it was still nothing compared to the chills that he got when Squall's now ice blue eyes settled on him.

The Messenger girl had visited him once, as giddy as she usually was, and more so now that the orphanage gang was all back together, seeming to completely ignoring the metal bars that separated the two, (and Seifer felt very grateful for having for once). Selphie's appearance at first looked exactly the same; however, it seemed to morph depending on her mood. She literally seemed to glow when she first bounded down the stairs and started chittering mindlessly to the caged blond. But once there was an announcement over the intercom summoning her to the Ice Queen's office, she visibly grayed… seriously. She stopped glowing, her eyes turned grey, hair fell flat, and skin color turned murky. It the large blonde had not seen it before his very eyes, he would never have believed it.

The only person who he hadn't gotten a visit from was the Marlboro man who was currently sitting next to the energetic brunette in the conference room. Seifer couldn't see any immediate differences in appearance at first, but as the cowboy turned his gaze to the two just joining the rest, the scarred blond caught sight of a pair of sharp, beady eyes, much like that of an eagle.

"Nice of you to finally join us." Quistis said as the two blonds took the empty seats at the large table.

Seifer smirked as he got comfortable in his seat, Zell beside him, grumbling something about keys all looking exactly the same.

Squall folded his hands on top of the table, staring coldly down the other end, particularly were the large blond sat.

"Seifer…" his monotone voice broke the silence. "Do you know why you're still here?"

The large blond stared at the others in the room, who were all looking pointedly at him. "Cause I'm such a bundle of joy to have around."

"No."

"How blunt."

Squall sat in silence for a moment before continuing. "During time compression, there was a mass amount of magic involved, and because we were all mixed up right in the middle of it all, we became… tainted by it."

Seifer leaned onto the table, looking intently at the commander. "And what does that have to do with me?"

Squall's eyes hardened. "Don't play stupid, Seifer. We all know that you were part of that too."

The blond cocked an eyebrow, "and why would you say that?"

"Because you managed to break through Rinoa's barrier and no ordinary magic could do that."

"Maybe I'm just special."

Zell scoffed.

Seifer turned to glare at the smaller blonde.

Zell just smirked, "Oh… you're special alright."

"Shut up chicken."

"Zell…"

Zell closed his mouth as he turned to the commander, a smile still playing across his lips, but stayed quiet.  
"My! You've gotten obedient chickie."

Zell glared.

Quistis cleared her throat, bringing everyone's attention back to the topic at hand.

"Seifer…" The brunette started again, "You have a two different choices in how to proceed from here. You either cooperate and follow our direction, or we find out anyways and you go back to the basement."

Now it was Seifer's turn to scoff, "Mighty confident aren't you."

Irvine then smirked, "Oh… we don't need you to tell us to find out."

Seifer cocked an eyebrow at the cowboy, who glanced over and smiled at Quistis for a moment, before turning back to the cuffed blond. "You're not the only one who got super powers you know. Our beautiful blonde bombshell over there," Irvine flirted, pointing to Quistis who glared back, "is a telekinetic mind reader. It wouldn't take her long to shift through your thoughts and figure out what your talent is."

Seifer leaned back in his chair, looking to said blondie who had turned her attention away from the boasting auburn to him, her normal mothering "I know better than you" instructor visage plastered on her face.

"Uh huh… and what can the rest of you do?"

"Now Seify…" Seifer flinched, the brunette's nick name for him nearly more annoying than her. "…first tell us what you can do."

Seifer thought for a moment, "What does cooperating entail?"

Squall's expression remained the same, his voice continuing in it's same monotone, "You'll be sharing a dorm with Zell—"

"What!?"

The suddenly flashing lights nearly hid the change in the commander's expression, who was now glaring at the tattooed blond who had jumped from his chair and stood gawking at his superior.

"Seifer will need to be continuously watched, even more so if he has the freedom to walk about the grounds."

Zell growled, huffing back down into his seat, holding his head in his hands.

"ZELL!!" Quistis yelled, a blush on her face, apparently hearing all the obscenities that the small blond had just cursed about his commander.

"Sorry…" He muttered.

Squall continued, turned back Seifer, who was watching Zell, looking insulted, "You of course will have to keep those cuffs on." Was his abrupt finish.

Seifer thought about it for a minute, still looking down at the miserable blond beside him. Either way… they were going to find out what he could do. And either way he had a feeling he would be stuck being babysat by the younger blond. So his choices were: Cold metal basement cage or warm comfortable living dorm…

"Time." The blond finally said.

"Excuse me?"

"I control Time." He restated, turning to Quistis's inquiry.

"That's cool!" Selphie chirped in. Leaning forward on the table, eyes wide… REALLY wide.

"To what extent?" Quistis pushed.

"Uh uh! Prid pro quo there instructor. What makes all the rest of you freaks, well… beside the usual?"

Selphie's hand immediately shot to the sky, nearly taking out one of the ceiling tiles, which most would think was clearly out of her reach. A small "Oyo! Oyo!" noise carrying through the room as she desperately tried to get Seifer's attention, which, all and all wasn't that difficult.

"Ok messenger girl… what is it?"

The tiny brunette lit up, literally, and stood on her chair. "I, Selphie Tilmett, am a transformer!"

Irvine slapped a hand over his face.

"….A transformer…"

The cowboy spoke up, "No… not really. That's just what she calls herself." The brunette in question visibly melted back into her chair, "Her emotions and surroundings control her physical body and abilities."

Seifer just stared at the cowboy, still not completely comprehending.

The raven sorceress finally spoke up, leaning on to the table from her spot next to the commander. "It's completely involuntary; she really has no control over it. But what happens is she'll physically show all her emotions: she's bright and colorful when she's happy, grey when she's depressed, blue when she's sad, red when she's angry—and so on. But it's also the situation and surroundings too. Say she's late for a meeting; she'll break the sound barrier running to the office room. Or if she's too short to reach something, her body will literally stretch to reach it."

"It makes sex interesting."

"Irvine!" Quistis scolded, before the cowboy smirked at her and the instructor turned bright red, "KINNEAS!!"

The cuffed blond chuckled at the blonde women's expense, and then turned back to the auburn, who was trying to pick his girlfriend up from her puddle on the floor, "And what's your talent?"

Looking up from the floor, he smirked at the blond, "I have super senses. Did you know you have grey hair? Four actually, around your left ear."

The scarred blond scoffed before he felt a sting above his left ear. Growling, he turned to Zell, who held up a single grey hair. "Make that three." Rinoa chuckled until Seifer's growl turned on her.

"That's enough Zell." Hiding his smirk behind tight lips, he glanced over to the cold brunette before looking down at his hands on the table, letting the smirk peep through.

"Seifer," Squall continued, "To what extent can you control time?"

"Ah… so soon? But I want to see what you can do puberty boy."

The room temperature suddenly plunged. Caught off guard by the sudden temperature change, Seifer was knocked back in his chair, stunned for a moment before gripping his trench coat tighter around him. A moment later he felt his feet start to go numb. Looking down, his eyes widened as ice crawled up his legs, fastening him securely to the floor.

"You can control ice… what a s-s-surprise." He shivered, "You can turn off the air conditioner now."

"First… tell us to what extent can you control time," came the commander's voice, as monotonous and calm as ever, the icy temperature having absolutely no effect on the pale man.

Seifer growled, the ice still climbing, tickling the bottom of his knees. "I c-can revers-s-se and forward tim-me, as well as slow it dow-wn and speed it up, but n-not for-r an-nything larger than a pers-s-son, I can't-t t-travel b-back or forw-ward in tim-me or anyth-thing lik-ke that-t."

The temperature continued to persist, the other's in the room shivering just as much, Selphie had finally gotten herself together and was not a lovely shade of blue, icicles hanging from her nose, chin and elbows. The ice continued to persist, now capturing his thighs.

"You're in no position to be lying."

Seifer seethed, "What m-makes you think I'm l-lying!?"

"The mission report alleged you were could float as well as disappear, and the construction workers said you had the power to instantly heal wounds and cure poison and ailments."

"I sh-shift time! I s-slow time down to float-t, speed-d it up to disap-p-ppear, and rev-verse it to heal inj-juries-s!" The blond was livid, "I d-don't l-l-lie!"

Squall stared at the raging blonde before turning to Quistis, who gave him a shivering nod, before the ice slowly started to recede and the room slowly started to warm.

"Damn Leonhart, didn't need to get so interrogating about it. I would have told you." The cuffed blond jeered, pulling his feet out of the remaining ice and tried to rum some warmth hack into them.

"You were being difficult."

"And you have about as much of a sense of humor as always."

Letting the commander fall into another one of his silent conversations to himself, Seifer turned to the remaining two mysteries of the room. "No Rin, what's your talent?"

"I can control the magic streams," she replied, her hands playing along her hair as it slowly shortened, she had extended it immensely when Squall had turned the room artic, keeping her warm, "I can cut off it completely, or make any magic spell increase one hundred fold."

"Thus making Rin here the most powerful sorceress to date, even more than what Ultimicia will one day become." Zell gloated, he himself rubbing his naked arms to finish wiping off the cold.

"And what can you do Chickie?"

He glared, "I rule over storms, lightning storms in particular. And don't call me 'chickie', cause I already pawned your ass once with it!"

"Zell! Language!" Quistis scolded.

"So… we've got a psychic, cartoon character, eagle-eyed man, time keeper, magic princess, Shiva and a thunder chicken." Seifer chuckled to himself, leaning back in his chair. "Interesting."

TBC

**OK… quick summary. The first buncha paragraphs that really have no dialogue are the character's descriptions, there are _some_ differences cause of what happened, and it may clear up some confusion later on, but if you don't want to read it… whatever. **

**Pretty much what happened was when they went through the Time Compression happen, some freaky magic happened and now they all got 'tainted', meaning they got special abilities, (or super powers if you wanna be cliché about it XP). Pretty much…**

**Squall can control freezing temperatures and ice (what a surprise huh?)**

**Seifer can control time: **"I can reverse and forward time, as well as slow it down and speed it up, but not for anything larger than a person, I can't travel back or forward in time or anything like that."

**Zell can control lightning and storms (again… surprise surprise!)**

**Quistis is a telekinetic mind-reader**

**Selphie's emotions and surroundings control her physical body and abilities: **"It's completely involuntary; she really has no control over it. But what happens is she'll physically show all her emotions: she's bright and colorful when she's happy, grey when she's depressed, blue when she's sad, red when she's angry—and so on. But it's also the situation and surroundings too. Say she's late for a meeting; she'll break the sound barrier running to the office room. Or if she's too short to reach something, her body will literally stretch to reach it."

**Rinoa controls the magic streams: **"I can cut off it completely, or make any magic spell increase one hundred fold."

**And finally our dear cowboy… who has gained super senses. Can see Seifer's gray hair from across the room, can smell what Zell had on his hotdog, can hear all the goodness that's eventually going to happen in Seifer and Zell's Bedrooms, etc. etc.**

**Oh! And Seifer's now free to wander around the garden, but he's got these special magic suppressing cuffs on, and needs to be constantly babysat by Zell.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Plot: There were side effects from the magic caused by the Time compression, and now that Seifer's back, things are getting even more troublesome. **

**Warnings: Yaoi (SeiferXZell)**

**Disclaimer: Final Fantasy VII and all it's characters are owned by Squaresoft or SquareEnix or whatever they want to call themselves. I'm making no money from this, but if you want to sue I've got a $20 bill and… (cleans out pocket) 16 cents. **

Tainted – Part 3

The two walked into the currently empty dorm room, sparsely furnished. The kitchen/living area held a table with two chairs and a bit of counter space with only a sink and microwave. Each adjoining bedroom was garnished with a bed and desk, and the single bathroom consisted of a toilet, vanity sink and shower.

The typical cadet dorm room.

Quistis strolled in, dropping her stack of paperwork on the kitchen table as Seifer trailed in behind her. Sliding her thin framed glasses onto her nose, she took one of the seats at the table and began shifting through the large pile of contracts and forms.

"Take a seat, Mr. Almasy."

"Where'd Chicken wander off to?" He questioned, taking his seat opposite the shuffling instructor.

"Packing." Came her abrupt reply. A moment later, she pulled out a handful of documents and shoved them before the larger blond.

"The first 3 pages are the rooming contract. It should be familiar, but read it anyways and sign on the last page. The next two are your restrictions in Garden. Zell will know them too so there's no getting away with anything. Once you've read through those, sign on the last page. The last—"

"Whoa… what a minute." Seifer interrupted, pushing the paperwork away from him. "I'm not signing any of this! I don't want to be here in the first place!"

"If you don't want to sign and cooperate, you can go back down into the basement. It's your choice."

"Since when are Garden captives given a choice? Damn you guys are getting soft."

Quistis glared, pushing the contracts back in front of the blonde. "The last page is a release allowing us to remove your things from storage."

"Storage?"

The instructor nodded, "We still have all of your things from before you left. We moved it all to storage after the first few months you didn't return."

Seifer was silenced, this wasn't right. It's always been policy to either throw out or sell the things runaways left behind. Why, after two and a half years, would they still be keeping all of his things? Especially _these_ guys. Out of everything he's done during the war, he's hurt these guys the most. The betrayed them, killed their loved ones, tortured them…

"We don't hate you Seifer."

Jerked from his thoughts, he stared at the other, who had let her professional visage drop and a gentle smile caress her face. Seifer cursed himself (thus causing a small falter in the instructor's smile, but she let the language pass) for forgetting the older blondes talents.

"We don't blame you for what has happened. We are not your enemies Seifer."

"Why the hell not!?" The ex-knight shouted, standing up roughly from his chair, knocking it backwards. "I commanded a war to start, I ordered hundreds to be killed, I told them to destroy Trabia! Any other country would have had me dead by now."

"Although it was you giving the order, it was Ultimicia commanding you to do so. She was the enemy, not you."

"I was her knight! I hold just as much responsibility as she does!"

"You were not her knight. You were her pawn."

Seifer silenced again, watching the women.

Quistis continued, "As much of her pawn as Edea or Rinoa was."

"I was not being controlled by her."

"Manipulation is just another form of control."

And for the third time, he was silenced, unable to think up a retort. Slowly sitting back down in his seat, he lowered his head, letting what he just heard sink in.

Quistis watched the large blond, thoughts of '_Manipulation… I was manipulated…' _coming to her head with Seifer's voice attached to them. Straightening up, she pulled her instructor visage back on, pushing the paperwork back to the brooding blond.

"Dwell on it later. Right now, lets get you settled."

Seifer glanced at the instructor before picking up the paperwork and began reading.

A few minutes later, after reading through the boring rooming paperwork that he'd memorized _years _ago, (and he had to actually _read _it too, cause every time he'd try and skim or let his mind wander he'd get scolded at by the older blonde) he found himself scowling at his restrictions for Garden.

_Almasy, Seifer, captive, is hereby condemned to remain on the ground of Balamb Garden with out exceptions. While on grounds, he must constantly be accompanied by Dincht, Zell, SeeD. Almasy is restricted without exceptions from entering the Basement, Parking Garage, Training Area—_

"What!?" Seifer shrieked, _I can't train!?_

Quistis walked in from the bathroom, where she was currently doing her maintenance check. "We can not let you walk around Garden armed, or anywhere else were Cadets could be occupying, and with those cuffs on, even your magic is useless. Now finish reading."

_Well shit!_

"And watch your language!"

Growling under his breath, he went back to the paperwork at hand.

_--Training area and Command Tower. _

_If any of these restrictions are violated, Almasy will be relocated to the Basement where he will be kept until Leonhart, Squall, Commander, or Kramer, Cid, Headmaster, deems otherwise._

_This contract is subject to change and/or cancellation as deemed by Leonhart or Kramer._

_...Well this sucks…_Seifer mumbled, (ignoring the scold from the blonde in one of the bedrooms) as he grudgingly signed his name down at the bottom.

He was half way filling out the storage release form when there was a clumsy knock on the door. Quistis quickly walked over to open it, revealing Zell, hands full with a large duffle bag over one shoulder, sheets and pillows under one arm, and punching bag under the other.

"It's about time Chicken! And I thought it took Rinoa a long time to pack up for a sleep over." Seifer grinned, standing up. But he quickly found himself being shoved back into his chair and pen flying into his hand. An unquestionable commanding look directed at the large blond from the skinny instructor, "Finish."

Zell glared at the larger blond, a nearly invisible blush crossing his cheeks as he realized what Seifer meant by 'sleepover,' "This isn't a game, Almasy, this is work. I'm not here to have fun." He grumbled as he walked over to the left bedroom.

"No, but I'm sure I can make it fun."

"Almasy… Finish."

"I'm on it, Instructor. Just give me a minute."

"Now Seifer."

"Yes Mother."

Quistis frowned as he finished the release form, collecting it with the other documents that were now completed. "Someone should be by in an hour or so with your things. If you have any questions just talk to Zell or come find me." Walking to the door, she nodded lightly in goodbye before disappearing out the door and down the hall.

Seifer sighed, before grinning as he heard a thump and a zip from where the martial artist had just disappeared to.

"So, Chicken Wuss…" The gunblader smirked, leaning against the other's doorway. "I guess it's just you an me now."

TBC

**Ok… R&R please! **


	4. Chapter 4

**Plot: There were side effects from the magic caused by the Time compression, and now that Seifer's back, things are getting even more troublesome. **

**Warnings: Yaoi (SeiferXZell)**

**Disclaimer: Final Fantasy VII and all its characters are owned by Squaresoft or SquareEnix or whatever they want to call themselves. I'm making no money from this, but if you want to sue I've got a $20 bill and… (cleans out pocket) 16 cents. **

Tainted – Part 4

"So, Chicken Wuss…" The gunblader smirked, leaning against the other's doorway. "I guess it's just you an me now."

Shoving a handful of shirts into his desk, due to the fact that the cadet dorms didn't have draws, Zell turned to the larger man blocking his door way.

"Lets get this straight Almasy; I am in charge. If I were you, I wouldn't forget that, cause if you take one step out of line, I can get your sorry ass kicked right back in that tiny cell you've been locked in for the past week. Got it?"

"Ok, ok Chicken. I heard you. Don't get your feathers in a ruff."

"That includes calling me Chicken, Chicken Wuss, Chickie, or any other poultry reference."

"But where's the fun in that?"

"We're not here to have fun, Seifer."

Seifer was still grinning, his arms dropping to his side as he walked into the tiny, one man bedroom. "No, but might as well as make some fun while we're at it."

Zell stiffened as he saw the gunblader approach, just one step into the room and he already found himself cornered. "We have two very different ideas of fun."

"And how do you know that, Chickie? You never asked." He took another step forward.

Zell practically growled in warning as he felt his escape halted as his back hit a wall. "No, but I can make a pretty good guess."

"Oh?" Taking a final step forward, Seifer blocked the smaller boy in completely, a single hand rising to rest on the wall beside Zell's left ear.

"Yeah." Zell's eyes stayed trained on his assailant's, but remained very, _very _aware of the location of Seifer's right hand and the close proximity of his body. "As long as someone else is in pain, you're happy."

Seifer's face snapped, a look of… _something_ coming over it. But before Zell had time to decipher it, the larger man turned and fled, the whipping of his jacket sounding as he turned to his own room, disappearing behind it's door.

Zell watched amazed where the larger man stood. The normal egotistical, arrogant brute had just had his shields torn down, by _Zell_ nonetheless. And in that spit second of weakness, Zell saw emotion's drowning in those green eyes that he believed the other man was able to feel.

4 4 4 4

Seifer huffed onto his bed, something he would only do behind the privacy of a locked door. Even then, Seifer wasn't one to 'huff,' but Chicken had driven him to do it.

_God damned Chicken-Wuss… opening your big fuckin beak when you don't know shit. _

But then again… this wasn't the first time he'd heard it. A sorceress's knight isn't looked very highly upon in this day and age, especially one that very nearly had the world completely destroyed.

When the wonder heroes had returned from the future, announcing they had vanquished the sorceress, the knight was forced to seclusion. Hiding behind his two, less recognizable captains, he first started to figure out his new talents. Needless to say, it scared the shit out of everyone at first; Seifer appearing out of nowhere, moving at half or twice the speed as normal people, in fact the first time Seifer discovered he could float Fujin's jaw almost dropped… almost.

But it didn't last long, a few months after settling down in Dollet they were soon visited by a few Galbadian soldier's, holding a warrant for Fujin and Raijin's arrest. Rumor had it that the two where at the desert prison, but he never heard anything that would prove or rebuff it.

For almost a year after that, he just wandered the country of Galbadia, hunting for food, stealing for supplies, and refining his skills with this time magic. Eventually, disguising himself as different ages, he moved into towns. First it was Dollet again as a street urchin, but he found that life harder than living outside the cities. Then it was Windhill as an 80 year old, and it worked out well for nearly a year, but it was then he spotted none other than the Messenger girl and Instructor, and quickly decided to leave, because word of a scarred blond man travels quickly through a small town. It was his last job that he was finally caught, after only about 4 months at Deling, his old ghosts finally caught up to him again.

A buzzing at the front door pulled his thoughts out of the past, and Zell's muffled voice sounded before there was a gentle knock on his bedroom door.

"Seifer. You're stuff's here."

The gunblader brushed past the younger man as opened the door and left, walking to the front door where a nervous looking young man stood holding a few stacked boxes. Relieving him of the burden, he took signed the clipboard before handing it back, the boy quickly leaving, not even a trial of dust behind him.

TBC

**Gah… these chapters keep getting shorter and shorter! **

**Ok… R&R please! **

**Review of… Reviews…**

**Cheri: Thanks! I hope you enjoy all to come!**

**ibanquet: I hope the wait isn't too long, I'm trying to update like 2-3 times a week, but I have no idea how long I'll be able to keep this up. But your patience is appreciated!**

**Chrissy Almasy: I hope you're not still confused! And I thought I was being a big… unoriginal with Squall… but hey! If someone finds it entertaining then it's worth it!**

**Miyo Yukimora: XD! Isn't it! I'm glad you like, I hope to keep the enjoyment comin!**

**Zodiac Eclipse: Yeah… he's in a rather large pile o' shite. Poor Zell… I torture my baby. Hehe… **

**DeadnightWarrior: Why thank you! I'm glade you like it! Hope that doesn't change!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Plot: There were side effects from the magic caused by the Time compression, and now that Seifer's back, things are getting even more troublesome. **

**Warnings: Yaoi (SeiferXZell)**

**Disclaimer: Final Fantasy VII and all its characters are owned by Squaresoft or SquareEnix or whatever they want to call themselves. I'm making no money from this, but if you want to sue I've got a $20 bill and… (cleans out pocket) 16 cents. **

**AN: My sincerest apologies with the shortness of that last chapter, hopefully this is better. However! I have a proposition. Would you all rather I do this in shorter chapters and updates three times a week? Or would you rather have one longer chapter at the end of the week? Your choice. **

Tainted – Part 5

Dropping the boxes onto his bed, Seifer slowly started to shift through his things. Out of date books, out grown clothes, cleaning supplies for hyperion (which were now useless without the gunblade), and various other knick knacks that he's collected over the years. Even an old photo album, of stolen pictures and memories that he's kept.

He placed everything about the room, nearly in the exact same place as where it was in his old dorm, every few minutes just sitting back and reminiscing about memories from over 3 years ago.

It was two and a half years since the war ended, and almost three years have past since the field exam. Three years since he last saw all these things. Three years since he's been in this garden. Three years since he's been surrounded by these people.

Three years… and he's right back where he started.

Although the lack of a gunblade and arrest is a bit different, he's still stuck in this floating schooling for mercenaries.

Just as he broke down the last of the boxes, he heard his door creak open. Turning, he saw Zell pushing his door open, letting himself into the larger man's room.

"Um… chicken. Who said you could come in here?"

"You're an inmate here, Seifer, you don't get any privacy."

"What if I was naked?"

"At 2 o'clock in the afternoon?"

"You never know. I could have been jacking it for all you know."

Zell almost choked on his own breath at the blunt statement, pink tinting his cheeks. "To what exactly? Your text books?" The blond motioning to the pile of summoning, magic, and tactic books on the desk.

"Maybe, Shiva is smoking hot, especially wearing only that bikini top and practically invisible panties."

"I'll tell Squall you think so. Now come on, I'm starving."

Seifer blanched for a moment at the mention of the commander, but stood up and followed the small blond with the promise of food. While down in the basement, all they offered him was bread and butter, water, and soggy chicken soup, and not a generous amount of it either.

5 5 5 5

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes."

"I refuse."

"It's either you sit there or I get you locked back in your cage until I'm done eating."

"Why not that table over there?"

"Cause I always sit with my friends."

"_Your _friends. Not my friends. So I'm not sitting there."

"Fine! Just sit somewhere close where I can see you."

Seifer snorted to himself as he headed in the opposite direction, sitting himself at an abandoned table a few rows down from where the girls were sitting. Zell watched the other man for a sec, a tiny bit of sadness coming over him as he kept his eyes on the scarred man's back. That quickly disappeared though as he reminded himself that he was thinking about the ass whole of the year.

Taking his normal seat between Rinoa and Selphie, he turned to the raven sorceress and gave her a sarcastic smile. "Where's your darling boyfriend, I'd like to thank him personally for this wonderful assignment he so graciously bestowed upon me." Then shoved his first hotdog into his mouth, chili and cheese.

"Where is Seifer? You're supposed to be watching him." Quistis interrupted, noticing the missing captive.

Mouth jammed full with processed meat, Zell pointed over to said captive, who was gingerly sipping his coffee.

"Why's he sitting over there?" Selphie asked, hair drooping a little bit, "didn't you invite him over here?"

Zell swallowed hard, "Of course I did, but he's too much of a stubborn ass whole to actually suck up his pride and accept the damn offer," finishing up with another hotdog being devoured, ketchup and mustard.

"Zell… language…"

Selphie sagged for a moment, before she started to glow, her smile seemingly wider than her face. Taking her tray, she stood up and bounced over to the other table.

"Selphie? Where are you going?"

"If he won't come sit with us, then I'll go sit with him."

Rinoa pondered this for a moment, then grabbed her tray and joined the animated brunette. Quistis and Zell watched as the two sat down across from the solitary blond, and immediately started chatting away with him like only those chipper girls can do. Seifer himself looked awestruck, glancing between the two gossiping girls like they each had six heads. Zell actually smiled at that, or attempted to around his hotdog, as the gunblader looked entirely out of place.

"He thinks we hate him." Quistis said suddenly, breaking the silence that befell the table.

Zell gulped down his hotdog, turning to the instructor, "I don't blame him. After everything that he's done, shouldn't we hate him?"

"Zell… you know it's not like that."

"Yeah, I know. But does it really change the fact that he _did _do it."

"Yes, it changes it entirely. He doesn't need hatred, he needs help."

Zell almost laughed into his soda, giving Quistis a pathetic look. "Don't ever let him hear you say that."

Their attention turned back to the other table. Seifer seemed to have snapped out of his shock, and was now participating fully in the conversation between the two girls.

"What's going on over there?"

Irvine and Squall joined them a few minutes later, taking their normal seats about the table. They each had their eyes set on the two girls a few tables down, seemingly oblivious to their boyfriends' late arrivals.

"They're trying to get Mr. Brooding over there to lighten up." Zell replied, engulfing his last hotdog, this one loaded.

"How long have they been over there?"

"Only about 15 minutes or so, not long." Quistis replied.

"Any idea what they're talking about?"

The blonde nodded, "Meaningless gossip. Selphie's been going on about the Summer Solstice Ball for about ten minutes now."

"The ball? But that's like… another 6 months away."

Quistis gave the cowboy a demeaning look, "This is Selphie, she started planning the next Christmas party on Boxing Day."

"What can I say, my baby loves her parties." Standing back up, Irvine tipped his hat to the rest of the table, "Now if you'll excuse me, I must go collect my muffin."

Approaching the table, the three left behind watched as Irvine leaned down to kiss his energetic girl on the head, before turning the other man at the table. The two girls sat in silence for a moment as the cowboy and gunblader exchanged a few words, motioning to the usual dining table. Selphie's face brightened more suddenly, and a squeak of excitement could be heard before all four of the people stood up and moved towards the last three in there group.

"Push over Chicken." Seifer said, squeezing in between the other boy and Rinoa. Everyone else took they're usual seat, shifting slightly to allow for the extra person.

"Nice of you to join us Seifer."

"I wasn't exactly given much of a choice."

Selphie giggled to herself. Quistis concentrated for a moment before snapping her gaze over to the cowboy, glaring. "You will do no such thing!"

"Of course I won't." Irvine replied, taking off his hat to eat, "No need to, he came didn't he."

Quistis continued to glare, not believing a world of it as the auburn man began digging into his Salisbury steak.

Rinoa kissed Squall's cheek as she sat down, the brunette pretending to ignore it, and turned her attention to the cowboy. "Nice to have you back Irvine."

Zell stiffened a little at the mention of Irvine being ill, his eyes fluttering to the ice prince for a moment, but Squall seemed to have completely ignored the remark, completely enticed by his ice water.

Irvine smiled up at the sorceress, "Was barely a scratch. Zell will have to do better than that to defeat me."

The small blond glared up at the cowboy, "It's not like I was trying to hit you. Can we please not talk about that? I got enough shit for it as it is." He finished his drink, looking back up at the cowboy. "Besides, if I was trying you would still be in the informatory burnt to a crisp."

"You underestimate me, Thunder Boy." Irvine replied. "You couldn't come within an inch of me."

"Are you challenging me—"

"That's enough." Squalls cold voice cut in, immediately silencing the quarrelling two. "Zell doesn't need his behavior reinforced, Irvine. So I suggest not bringing it up again."

Zell slumped back down in his chair, looking like he'd just been slapped in the face. Irvine shrugging it off went back to his food.

Silence choked the table for a few minutes, Zell sitting quietly at his seat, Seifer glancing between the other 3 men at the table, all the other's finishing they're meals.

Finally, Quistis broke the silence. "Bell's about to ring, we have classes to get to." Everyone gathered up they're dirtied trays and said their goodbyes. Zell was rather quiet as he and Seifer left, quiet enough to where Seifer was almost worried about the shorter blond… almost.

"Bye Seify! Bye Zell! See you tonight!"

Selphie's yell knocked the smaller boy out of his head and focusing on reality, more or less, the bouncing brunette who had her hand waving goodbye far above everyone else's head. Zell turned to Seifer, "What did she mean 'tonight'?"

The larger man laughed to himself for a moment, hands being shoved into his pockets, "it was the only way I could get her to shut up about the stupid ball."

Zell glowered, "What did you do."

"We're now part of the planning committee."

TBC

**Ok… R&R please! **


	6. Chapter 6

**Plot: There were side effects from the magic caused by the Time compression, and now that Seifer's back, things are getting even more troublesome. **

**Warnings: Yaoi (SeiferXZell)**

**Disclaimer: Final Fantasy VII and all its characters are owned by Squaresoft or SquareEnix or whatever they want to call themselves. I'm making no money from this, but if you want to sue I've got a $20 bill and… (cleans out pocket) 16 cents. **

**AN: Polls are still open! Would you rather I update 3x a week (Monday, Wednesday, Friday) with shorter chapters, or once a week (Fridays) with one long chapter. I'll make the announcement with my update on Friday, and the new (or continuing) schedule will start next week.**

**Now… On with the fic!!**

Tainted – Part 6

Zell slumped down in one of the kitchen chairs, exhausted. Seifer joining him across the table, not looking much better.

"I can not believe you volunteered us for that." Zell mumbled into his hands, which were trying to rub the tiredness out of his face.

"Who would have imagined that girl could do so much in just an hour."

The martial artist looked at the other in utter disbelief, but Seifer just ignored him, a hand traveling to his short blond hair in wonder, "I've got to build a gazebo, with an attached bridge, and mesh fence. Then, create a garden around it."

Zell snorted, face still buried in his hands, "No, _I _get to build the gazebo. You're not allowed to wield anything more dangerous than a butter knife."

Seifer smirked, "Then what am I complaining about, my job's easy. I get to watch you do all the work."

"Oh no, you're not getting out of this. You dragged me in; you're suffering through this too."

"You said it your self, I can't wield anything more dangerous than a butter knife."

"I'll think of something."

"Don't hurt yourself."

Zell glared at the other man, who just seemed to be grinning at the other's dread. "I need a shower."

"Leaving me here by myself?"

Zell stood, walking over to the bathroom, "Unless you want to come and wait on the toilet until I'm done, yes, I'm leaving you alone."

Seifer grabbed his wrist as he walked past, being the one sitting closer to the bathroom door, "I could always just join you in the shower. Easier for you to keep a close eye on me."

Zell jerked his head around, his eyes round at the other man's sudden proposal. Seifer's usual smirk was still there, but not as taunting as it usually was, almost like it was half a smile. The harassing glint in his eyes sparkled more like that of a child who was looking though a window of a candy store, rather than the bully who beat up kids for their lunch money. His entire body seemed relaxed, less menacing, almost… inviting.

Zell didn't buy it.

Twisting his wrist out of the larger grasp, he scowled, "Funny," before disappearing being the slammed closed bathroom door.

Seifer stared at the door for a moment, hearing a low bang from the other side of the metal door. Silently, he stood up and went to his room, collapsing on his bed.

Zell slid down the bathroom door, legs falling out before him.

_What the hell was that!? Did Seifer just come onto me!? No… he just…he was… being a dick. That **asshole!!**Did he think that was funny!? Was it just some kind of joke!? How low can he get!? _

_I mean… seriously. What the hell is he thinking? Saying something like that… that's just… gay! Wait… is Seifer gay? HA! Wouldn't that be something. The ex-knight is a cock sucker; a dirty, fudge-packing, ball-licking, meat-eating, faggot! No wonder I've never seen him with any girls, other than Fujin. I mean, it _does _make sense, there's no other obvious reason why he's never had a girlfriend. Girls love that 'bad boy' image, and he's certainly got the looks to back it up. Not that I'd know! I over heard it in the hallway from some girls! That's the only reason I know!_

_He's just fucking with you, Dincht. He's just being the bastard he's always been. He's just trying to rile you up, get a reaction. Well guess what Almasy? I'm not falling for it! You can be as big of an ass as ever and I'm not going to move an inch! _

_God damned Seifer… _

6 6 6 6

Half and hour later, Zell emerged from the bathroom, a flood of steam following him out. It helped a bit, the hot water flowing down his back was soothing, and shampooing and conditioning (who says conditioner is just for girls!) helped get his thoughts off Seifer a little bit.

The dorm was quiet, too quiet. Where was Seifer? Creeping quietly over to the larger blond's door, he glanced through the crack that it was open. The gunblader lay on his bed, still fully dressed, with an arm slung over his face. Determining he was just asleep, Zell turned away from the door, with full intentions of disappearing into his own.

"Chicken."

But obviously he was wrong.

Seifer let his arm fall away, eyes trained on Zell. Zell just looked back.

"Seifer."

They stayed like that for several moments, eyes locked, motionless. One with his guard up, ready to take anything the other would throw at him. He wasn't going to break, he wasn't going to react, that's what the other wanted, and like _hell_ he was giving into that. The other just lay there, staring back, watching the smaller man slowly tense up as their gazes kept. It didn't take long before the martial artist broke the contact, turning his head away, before proceeding to his room.

"Good night Seifer." Not waiting for a reply, he hid himself behind his closed door, once again sliding down to the floor.

Seifer continued to watch the spot where Zell stood, not breaking that glance until he heard the gentle click of the other's door shutting. Chuckling to himself, he looked back up at the white ceiling, listening intently on the sounds of his Chickie moving around his room.

Yeah… _his _Chickie…

TBC

**AN: I'm sorry for making Zell look like some homo-bashing asshole! I didn't enjoy writing it, but I had to!**

**Please R&R!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Plot: There were side effects from the magic caused by the Time compression, and now that Seifer's back, things are getting even more troublesome. **

**Warnings: Yaoi (SeiferXZell)**

**Disclaimer: Final Fantasy VII and all its characters are owned by Squaresoft or SquareEnix or whatever they want to call themselves. I'm making no money from this, but if you want to sue I've got a $20 bill and… (cleans out pocket) 16 cents. **

**AN: Ok! Turns out it's going to be one long chapter on Fridays, posted around 4 o'clock EST, so this is the last short chapter, and the longer ones start next week. And I also went through and fixed all the 'ass whole's in the last chapter… stupid spell check. **

Tainted – Part 7

"Seifer…"

The large blond pressed gentle kisses along the tanned muscled neck beneath him. His hand tracing patterns he'd already memorized long ago across the toned chest and stomach, his other laced with his magic, bringing his partner into a slow, agonizing orgasm.

"Seifer…!"

"Chicken..."

His lips trailed from the neck, up to underneath an ear, sucking ruthlessly. The smaller man's breath coming in short sudden gasps, his back arching off the bed as he tensed. The organ in the gunblader's hand spasming, Zell screamed—

"SEIFER!!"

Suddenly, the flustered, vulnerable face of his blond chicken became closed off and cold. The beautiful image of the martial artist was no longer tangled in black silk sheets, but rather was leaning over him, fully dressed, with a scowl on his face.

"Will you get up already! I've got a class in 20 minutes."

Seifer moaned, cursing Zell under his breath for tearing him away from such a breathtaking dream. Lifting himself up onto his elbows he watched the younger man moving about the kitchen, a knap sack slung over his shoulder and a bowl of cereal in his hand.

"Seifer… I'm serious. If you're going to take a shower you've got," Zell glances to the clock on the wall, "18 minutes. No… 15 minutes, cause I need to be there before the bell rings."

Rolling out of bed, he slunk into the kitchen. Zell watched him scrutinizingly as he made his way to the coffee machine, its aroma alone bringing him a few inches farther into the waking world. Seifer Almasy was not a morning person.

Sixteen minutes later, Zell was waiting at the open door of the dorm, arms crossed, foot tapping impatiently. Seifer had just disappeared into his room, claiming he just needed to grab his coat, but it doesn't take a normal person two minutes to grab a trench coat.

"Let's go!"

"I'm coming, Chicken. No need to start crowing at me."

Aggravated, Zell held the door open as the scarred man past by, following him down the hall as the door _wizzed_ locked behind them.

"So which classes do you have the ability to teach?"

"Tactics, Mechanics and I'm the instructor for naked and single handed weapons."

"And which are we going to now?"

"Tactics."

"And what am I suppose to do while your busy playing teacher."

"Sit quietly."

"If I don't, are you going to keep me after for detention?"

Zell turned and glared up at the other man, seething at the not-so-innocent way he said that. Fully reminded of what happened the night before, he barely managed to suppress the blush threatening to show. _He will not get a reaction… he will not._

"No."

Seifer frowned. What was up with the chicken? Normally he'd be swatting invisible flies at the kind of comment. He _knew_ Chickie caught the undertone in it, that blush he was trying to hide proved it, but then why was he acting so… calm.

"Damn Chicken, you're getting boring."

"It's called growing up."

"Yet you're still as short as ever."

Again, nothing. Zell just kept his gaze on his destination ahead, that being the elevator, and said nothing. He pushed the call button for the elevator, looking at his watch and griminsing slightly. Shit… he was going to be late.

The door's _wizzed _open before them, and closed behind them as they entered the small glass room. The room began to ascend, each man standing on opposite ends. Seifer leaned against the glass wall, eyes watching the smaller blond who was blatantly ignoring his stare.

It started during the war, these… thoughts. At first they disgusted him, dreams of touching the chicken, kissing… fucking. He'd lost weeks of sleep over that. Not just the image of him with a guy… but with _Chicken_! It was too much to take at times. He use to blame it on _Her_, she was in his head so much, that he thought she was the one putting those thoughts there. Out of all the men that seemed the greatest threat to her, Zell seemed the most innocent, the most naïve, the most corruptible, and she lusted for that.

But… even after he could no longer feel her in his head, the thoughts and dreams persisted. He denied them, tried to ignore them, telling himself that it was still only her, memories she had left in his head; and he was doing pretty damn good at it too. Course, he fucked that all up last night.

The sudden stop of the elevator and _wiz _of the door opening pulled him out of his thoughts, following Zell down the hall.  
The bell had just begun to ring as they entered the classroom. Cadets scattered though out the room, some chatting with they're friends, other's sitting patiently in their seats, and one pair was sitting back in a corner, trying to go unnoticed as they whispered things to each other.

"Alright everyone! In your seats!"

The class came to attention as Zell called to them, the chatter silencing instantly as they all turned to face their instructor, sights caught on the man standing just to the side, eyes wide and nervous.

Zell, of course, noticed this. His cadets never quieting down as ordered like they should. Chuckling to himself, he smiled at the ex-knight, "I should have started bringing you to classes as soon as you got here."

"Don't jump to conclusions, class has barely started."

"Just go sit down, and stay quiet."

Smirking, Seifer did as he was told, taking an empty seat in the far back, cause the red headed girl next to him to shrink down and scoot away slightly.

The lecture was boring, more than usual because not only was Tactics class _always _boring, but he's already survived this class once. Not to mention he commanded an army, so these simple strategies that Chicken was coaching these kids through were laughably basic.

Instead, he logged into the school database on the computer in front of him. Glad that his username and password were still accepted, he looked through all his files. Everything was still there, untouched.

Why? They were expecting him to come back? That seemed obvious. They'd kept all of his things, kept him in the garden database, even kept all his files. But… why? Again, memories from the night before assaulted him.

_"We don't hate you Seifer."_

_Jerked from his thoughts, he stared at the other, who had let her professional visage drop and a gentle smile caress her face. Seifer cursed himself (thus causing a small falter in the instructor's smile, but she let the language pass) for forgetting the older blondes talents. _

_"We don't blame you for what has happened. We are not your enemies Seifer."_

_"Why the hell not!?" The ex-knight shouted, standing up roughly from his chair, knocking it backwards. "I commanded a war to start, I ordered hundreds to be killed, I told them to destroy Trabia! Any other country would have had me dead by now."_

_"Although it was you giving the order, it was Ultimicia commanding you to do so. She was the enemy, not you."_

It just didn't make sense!

"Seifer!"

And, damn it, would be he ever be able to complete a thought!?

"Can you come up here please?"

"I'm not posing as a model for your class, Chicken."

Zell glowered for a second at his students hearing that horrid name, but ignored it. "Just get up here."

Grumbling, Seifer stood and walked to the front, hands stuffed in his pocket.

Zell turned to the class as he approached. "Ok, since you're all too distracted to pay attention, let's just get this out of the way. As you all probably realized, this is Seifer Almasy, and he is going to be attending this class for an undetermined amount of time."

Seifer glanced over to Zell, then to the class, all of them still having that awe-struck look on their faces, except for the red head in the back row, who looked more relieved than anything.

There was a moment of silence.

"Questions?"

Zell glanced around the room, all the kids still in shock. Then, tentively, a hand slowly rose.

"Gale?"

The red head from the back row slowly stood up, pulling at the edges of her uniform shirt.

"I-is it true that you… that you… eat people?"

Seifer's eyes bulged at the completely out of the air question. Zell next to him had to cover his mouth to stop the laugh that started to come out, although it didn't help much. Gale just continued to play with the edge of her shirt, the rest of the class watching the ex-knight, curious and scared eyes locked on him.

Once the initial shock wore off, he glanced over at Zell, hoping to get a bit of an explanation on the bizarre question, but found that the short blond was too busy trying not to too laugh.

"No, I don't eat people. Only chicken."

That made Zell stop laughing, his hand now trying to hide his blush.

Gale gave an unsure nod at the answer before taking her seat again, the rest of the class just as perplexed.

Zell, just continued blushing behind his hand, completely shocked and utterly embarrassed that Seifer had just said that, and in front of his class nonetheless. Taking a moment to let his blood move away from his face, he looked back up at the class, face still slightly pink. "Since none of you are probably going to pay attention anyways… you're dismissed, but be prepared for class on Wednesday."

All of the students quickly exited the room, they're loud gossiping voices ringing through the hallways as soon as they walked through the door.

Zell quickly turned to face the larger man. "You are such an asshole."

Seifer followed Zell's movements, "Yeah… asshole I can understand. Why do they think I'm a cannibal!?"

Zell's expression quickly flipped again, smiling to himself as he collected up his paperwork.

"Chicken…"

He started chuckling as he shouldered his knap sack.

"Chicken!"

Laughter started ringing thought the room.

"Chicken!!!"

Zell was bawling with amusement as he left the room, a frustrated and angered Seifer following behind him.

TBC

**Please R&R!**

**ibanquet: Glad to hear it!**

**Acorn-ail: Me too! But there are so few SfxZ are compared to like… SxS that I had to write one. And there should be MUCH more lovin in the future, I just don't want to rush it. Thanks for reading! **

**DreadnightWarrior: hehe tanky!**

**Zodiac Eclipse: I hope that clears things up with Seifer for now, I'll get more in-depth about it as the story progresses, I just don't want too much brooding in one chapter, takes away from the character interaction. And I only got a few hours a day to right this, so I try and get a little bit of everything in an update. Thanks for the comments though, they really do help with things I should hit on in my next chapters. **

**Eoko Formerly Known as Hicky: Glad to hear it! And thanks for the spelling lesson… not really my strong point… **


	8. Chapter 8

**Plot: There were side effects from the magic caused by the Time compression, and now that Seifer's back, things are getting even more troublesome. **

**Warnings: Yaoi (SeiferXZell)**

**Disclaimer: Final Fantasy VII and all its characters are owned by Squaresoft or SquareEnix or whatever they want to call themselves. I'm making no money from this, but if you want to sue I've got a $20 bill and… (cleans out pocket) 16 cents. **

**AN: Ok… not a good start for my new longer chapters… we got hit with the snow storm on Wednesday (13 inches! Argh…), so the lab was closed, so I couldn't get to work to write for the day. So it's a bit shorter than I anticipated. Sorry! (Yeah… I'm a front desk receptionist for a research lab, I get a bit of down time and I spend it writing this.)**

Tainted – Part 8

The rest of Zell's classes progressed much the same way, the children far too distracted by the sorceress's knight sitting in such a close proximity. His mechanics class was working on disarming the simple bomb, not actual active bombs of course, but decided that class was over when one kid cut the entirely wrong wire, and actually _did _manage a small explosion. His training class was even more of a disaster than that, sending nearly half his class to the informatory with black eyes, bloody noses, a few missing teeth and one with a Sai imbedded in his bicep.

Seifer for the most part just sat in the back and watched, every once in a while smirking at some cadet he caught staring at him, making them squeak and quickly look away. Needless to say it ended up being much more entertaining than he originally predicted.

They now sat in the cafeteria, with Irvine, Selphie and Rinoa accompanying them.

"So," the raven started, setting down her glass of ice-tea, "I heard you had a rough day in your classes today, Zell."

The small man swallowed his hotdog, giving a long, low groan, "Rin, that's an understatement. Twenty seven injuries in a 15 minute period, that's a record."

"Damn… all because this lunatic was in the room?"

Seifer glared at the cowboy.

"Yeah. I ended up having to dismiss all my classes' early cause no one was paying attention. Did you hear the explosion?"

"That was you?"

"Yeah, Ken Pugsley made a clock bomb blow."

"A clock bomb? How?"

"Like hell if I know! When I was in that class I _tried_ to blow the damn things up. Now Seifer comes along and making the impossible happens."

"I'm a miracle worker!"

"Don't flatter yourself."

Seifer set his glare on the martial artist, before letting it fall and turning back to the rest of the group. "While we're on the subject, I was asked the strangest things today—"

Seifer was cut off as the blond beside him began to choke, seeming to have inhaled his hotdog suddenly. Irvine reached over and gave the thunder man a hard pat on the back, sending the piece of meat back up and into the blond's hand.

"Zell! Are you alright!?"

"I'm fine, Selphie, was just caught a bit off guard."

The tiny brunette calmed down, her brown hair falling back down into its normal curl from the static like look it normally ended up in when she was afraid, her fist size eyes shrinking to the normal human dimensions.

Zell cleaned off his hand, rubbing the prechewed bread and topping off on his hand with a pile of napkins, then turned to the gunblader beside him. "I would prefer if you didn't make me laugh when I've got a mouth full of hot dog, thanks."

"Well we can't always get what we want, now can we Chicken?"

Zell looked away, his good mood broken. _Don't react… don't react…_

Feeling the tension that suddenly choked the air as fast as Zell on his hotdog, Rinoa spoke up, trying to break the mood. "So… what happened Seifer?"

Zell's good mood was back again.

"This red head asked me, very seriously, if I 'eat people'."

The sorceress's face suddenly dropped, going from a kind and inviting smile to embarrassed and beet red. Irvine and Selphie were both burst into hysterics, Irvine pounding on the table, tears glimpsing at his eyes. Selphie was rolling around on the floor holding her gut, tiny little nearly visible 'HA's appearing randomly about her head. Zell started laughing behind his hand too, but not nearly as hard as the others.

Seifer just watched the reactions, feeling entirely out of the loop. He was defiantly missing something, and by the way his ex-girl friend there was trying to hide herself in her hair, he knew exactly who the cause of it was.

"Rin… darling… Is there something I should know?"

The sorceress looked up, face still ripe. "I'd—um… I'd rather not talk about it here."

"Then would you care to take a walk?"

Rinoa bit her lower lip for a moment, debating on whether it was truly a good idea. Standing up, she kept her head low, and followed Seifer as he too stood up to leave, Zell following a few steps behind his charge. They quickly left the cafeteria, Irvine and Selphie still bawling their eyes out, the rest of the cafeteria watching in a confused silence at the commotion at the war hero's table.

They ended up in Zell and Seifer's dorm, the sorceress fidgeting with her fingers nervously as she sat at the table, Seifer taking his seat across from her, Zell leaning against the far wall, just observing for now.

Rinoa began to explain, "It- it happened about a year ago, at Irvine's birthday party. Someone had spiked the punch, so we were all pretty drunk, and if you think Irvine's a pervert when he's sober, that's nothing compared to when he's drunk. Well… he was hitting on me, saying all the things he would… do to me. Then Squall interrupted to correct him, then you were brought up, and—"

"Basically…" Zell butted in, confused himself by Rinoa's rambling, and he actually knew what she was talking about. "Irvine said that he would 'eat her out'…

FLASHBACK!!

_Rinoa blushed furiously at the statement, hiding her face from the cowboy's hungry gaze. Squall quickly came to the rescue, placing himself in between his girlfriend and the pervert._

_"You will not touch her!" The ice prince yelled, unknowing being a lot more characteristic about it than he would normally let himself. Alcohol was good for the brunette. "She's MINE! Only _I_ can eat her!"_

_The sorceress's face had gone from red, to ripe tomato covered in blood with a red lamp beating down on her. She shrank into the couch, trying to disappear into it all together. _

_Irvine leaned forward, challenging the commander. "Only you? I bet Seifer's tried to eat her? Isn't that right Rin?"_

_Rinoa continued to disappear into the couch. _

_"He did not!" Squall retaliated, trying to act threatening, but the wobbling in his stance demolished any of his attempts. _

_"Sure he did! First he ate her, then he fed what was left of her to that cross-gendered sorceress."_

_Squall fell quiet, yes… the logic was perfect. If Adel ate Rinoa, then Seifer must of too. There's no arguing with that. _

_Finishing his 8th beer of the night, the commander reached for another one. _

_Unknown to all the too-drunk-to-actually-think-straight adults about the room, a cadet too-young-to-actually-know-what-the-drunk-adults-were-talking-about stood just outside the door, eyes wide and scared, be bolted to the nearest populated area and screamed out loud the horrendous news he just heard. _

FLASHFORWARD!!

Rinoa remained silent throughout the story, face becoming brighter and brighter as Zell continued. Seifer just watched the blond, waiting for the moment to finish...

"And you couldn't explain to them it was a joke?"

"How the hell were we going to explain to a class of 8 year olds what one of their instructors meant by 'ate her'?" Zell challenged.

"They'd figure it out eventually."

"But not from us! Sex-Ed is one thing, but teaching them about 'eating out' their girlfriends is a bit taboo in a classroom."

"So what do you plan to do about this?"

"Do? Absolutely nothing."

"They can't keep on believing I'm going to attack them."

Zell cocked an eyebrow, "They're all terrified of you anyways, so what's the difference."

"Fine! If you're not going to do anything, I'll fix it myself." Seifer said as he stood up, brushing past the tattooed blond and left the dorm.

"Wait! Seifer!" Running after the other man, he turned back to Rinoa, who still sat mortified at the table. "Make sure you lock the door when you leave! Thanks Rin!"

He chased the gunblader back to the cafeteria, only to see him jumping up onto a table as he entered the room.

"Hey! Everybody listen up!" He bellowed, stunning the room into silence. Zell peered over to see Squall and Quistis had joined Irvine and Zell at the table, the two later still with smiles plastered across their faces, all four gazing shocked at the blond man standing high in the middle of the room.

This was not going to be pretty.

"Just to clear this up! Whatever you heard about my eating habits, forget it! What was over heard were the drunken remarks of a perverted cowboy. So leave it alone!"

It was short, but got right to the point.

The entire room continued to watch Seifer, but Zell turned his glance over the four sitting at the table. Selphie had started laughing again, breaking the silence that descended on the room. Irvine looked horrified, like he's was just caught masturbating while looking through the peep-whole of the woman's locker room. Quistis had her mouth covered, staring awestruck at the blond as he jumped from the table. As for Squall… well…

"ZELL!!"

The room temperature plunged.

8 8 8 8 8 8 8

The door to the dorm _wizzed_ open, Zell walking in still shivering from the commander's office.

"You… are s-such… and ass-ss-sshole," were his first words as he spotted the bigger man.

"What did the commander say?" Rinoa asked, she had never actually left the room. Quistis had escorted Seifer back to the dorm while Squall 'talked' to Zell. They had found the raven women still in the same spot she was left in not 15 minutes before.

"Seifer's confined to the dorm for a week." He rubbed his chilled arms, tiny flakes of ice shedding from his shoulders. "If he does anything like that again he's going back down to the basement."

"Well I guess that's good for you then," the sorceress replied, "he won't interrupt your classes anymore."

Zell scoffed as he disappeared into his room, searching for the warmest piece of clothing he could find.

Quistis answered instead, "Unfortunately not. Zell is responsible for Seifer, he needs to keep an eye on him."

"So Zell's stuck in here too?" Rinoa questioned.

Quistis nodded.

Seifer grinned.

8 8 8 8 8 8 8

"Chicken."

"Don't talk to me Seifer."

"Chickie…"

"I said, don't talk to me."

"But I'm bored."

"Tough. You got yourself into this."

"But you're stuck here with me. So we might as well make the best of it."

"Go away, Seifer."

"No."

Zell slammed his book shut, glaring up at the large man who was just smirking at him.

"Either you get out of my room right now. Or I'll make you get out."

Seifer tilted his head, smirk growing into a grin. "And how are you going to do that?"

"You don't intimidate me Almasy. I kicked your ass once, I can do it again."

"How noble of you, Chicken. Threatening an unarmed man with suppressing cuffs on."

Zell growled, fists tightening as the scarred man pushed off from his spot leaning against the blond's doorway. He took a step forward, and Zell suddenly felt the atmosphere become very familiar.

"What the hell do you want, Seifer?"

He took another step forward, once again trapping the smaller man against the wall. Zell was on guard, ready and waiting for anything the other blond was pushing for. If he came an inch closer, he'd soon be missing some teeth.

Seifer remained relaxed, his eyes wandering along the black tattoo that marked his face. From his golden hair, to his honey eyes, to his tanned skin, to his pink lips… Where these really his thoughts? Or just memories from _Her_?

"Chicken… what would you do if I kissed you right now?"

Zell's eye's widened for a moment, before squinting in anger.

"Break your mouth."

Seifer's grin didn't faulted, _As expected from Chicken._ "So I'll take that as a no?"

"That's a no."

"Why?"

Zell looked up at Seifer, like he suddenly turned a freaky color of purple. "What do you mean 'why'? You're an asshole! I hate you! Why the hell would I!?"

"So it's not because I'm a man?"

Zell's eye's widened, _Oops…_

"Is my little Chickie gay?"

Zell's anger flared again, hands reaching up to shove the larger man back. "No! It's just the fact that I hate you overcomes the fact that your not a chick."

"So if you didn't hate me? Then—"

"No!"

"Come on Chickie… how do you know you hate it until you try it?"

Zell pushed past the larger man, walking out of the confined room to the kitchen. "Hyne, Seifer. What the hell is wrong with you!?"

Seifer didn't move from where he was just shoved from Zell's escape from his room, hiding the pain that just flashed over his face as being pushed away. He then straightened himself, walking out of the room and heading towards his own.

"Nothing, just trying to entertain myself."

Zell watched the door close behind the blond, in disbelief, before a new set of rage came over him. _Asshole! Asshole! **Asshol**—Wait…did he say _his_ chickie!?_

TBC

**Yeah… only ended up being 6 pages long and I was hoping these would be closer to 8 or 9. Sorry! But as long as the weather doesn't turn crappy again they should get longer. **

**Love it, Hate it, confused? Tell me! R&R!**

**DeadnightWarrior: Yay! I'm glad you laughed! That means I'm doing a good job! **

**ibanquet: Yeah… I really have NO idea where that cannibal thing came from. I needed something random, and it was the ONLY thing I could think of that I could actually explain. **

**Zodiac Eclipse: ; ; I always liked Chicken. I thought it was cute. He'll become more of 'Chickie' later on. But I always thought it was odd when Seifer called Zell… "Zell"**

**Silver Wolf: I'm glad you like! But you don't think 'Ice Prince' was a bit too… cliché?**

**Angel Reid . Tobias Dominik: lmao. We can only hope, or at least some other flavor that Seifer enjoys. **


	9. Author Note

Author Note,

Sorry everyone… I was fully expecting to be able to keep up with a schedule, but that failed. I'll be updating when I get the chance, but on no set schedule. I can't find the time to write as many things as I am, and I've sorta lost the mind set for the story; damn writer's block.

Again sorry…


	10. Chapter 9

**Plot: There were side effects from the magic caused by the Time compression, and now that Seifer's back, things are getting even more troublesome. **

**Warnings: Yaoi (SeiferXZell)**

**Disclaimer: Final Fantasy VII and all its characters are owned by Squaresoft or SquareEnix or whatever they want to call themselves. I'm making no money from this, but if you want to sue I've got a $20 bill and… (cleans out pocket) 16 cents. **

Tainted – Part 9

Zell was about ready to yank all his hair out. It hadn't even been a day yet and Seifer was already driving him up a wall! Everywhere he went, (which in that tiny dorm there wasn't really that many places)… there was the larger blond, standing there, just… _looking_ at him. Not speaking, not moving, barely blinking… just… looking. It was driving him _nuts!_

But he wouldn't react… he'd just keep his cool… and not let on that Seifer was bugging the _shit _out of him!

"Chicken."

"WHAT!?"

Seifer smirked at the outburst.

"You're jumpy today."

Zell glared.

"Food's here."

"Food?" The sudden scent of what was indeed food, and more importantly processed meat, suddenly broke through his anti-Seifer barriers. He'd been so distracted trying to keep away from the older blond that he hadn't even noticed the obvious delivering of lunch.

He entered the kitchen to see two large bags placed on top of the tiny table. Seifer took his normal seat, pulling one of the bags towards him and taking out his steak and cheese sub. Unwrapping the foil, he took one bite, then turned back to the thunder man who still stood at his door.

"As much as I like having you watch me, Chicken, I'm sure you'd enjoy eating much more." He said after he swallowed, his eyes darting over to the second bag before turning his attention back to his own food.

Snapping back to attention, what his mind wandered to he wasn't sure, but he went and grabbed the bag off the table and opened it. Four hotdogs, each with a different topping.

"How'd you know what I wanted?"

Seifer looked up from his sub, shooting the shorter man a look that read 'are-you-stupid?-cause-you-can't-be-serious'.

"How'd you know… no onions…?" Very little people realized this, that he detested onions, so when someone usually got him a Loaded he had to stomach them.

Seifer shrugged, turning his attention back to his sandwich.

A different thought suddenly came to Zell's mind as he looked across the table at all the food.

"How did you pay for all this?"

Seifer swallowed, leaning in for another bite, "From your wallet." He replied, before filling his mouth again.

Zell growled… so much for leaving his wallet on top of the fridge. Taking his seat, the rest of the meal was in silence at the two men finished their food.

9 9 9 9 9 9 9

Zell was nearly crying in hysterics as he flipped through the photo-album on his lap. Pictures of memories he'd long forgotten due to the sacrifices. Photographs of instances in time never to be lived again. Snapshots of reminiscences stolen from an ancient time… or so it felt. How Seifer had collected all these memoirs was still completely blowing the smaller blond's mind, but he wasn't worrying over it at the moment.

'Cause now, at this exact moment, he was propped up on Seifer's bed, the album in his lap, the large blond leaning over to look and laugh at the pictures with him, and each had a glass full of vodka in their hands.

How did this happen? Well…

_Zell listened carefully, not fully sure he was hearing what he war hearing. At first he thought he was imagining it, then he thought he was dreaming, now he thought he was going insane, cause it surely couldn't be what he thought it was…_

_He walked over to other bedroom door, listening closely… oh dear god, it was!_

_He knocked, "Seifer, I'm coming in." The only response he got was more of that frightening sound._

_Cracking the door open, his eyes widened, mouth falling open. Seifer… the bad ass, jerk of an asshole… was… _chuckling_. And not like that base low, evil chuckle that usually resulted in Zell with a wedgie, titty twister and an empty wallet. No, it was more like Seifer's version of giggling… but not nearly as girly and giddy. _

_The elder blonde didn't even look up from his lap, a large book laid across it. A photo album. Zell remembered seeing it when they were packing away the knight's things. The group of them cleaning up had flipped through it, amazed at some of the memories it stored, but that was over two years ago, with most of those memories sacrificed. _

_But that didn't explain the normally overly manly blond's sudden drop to such flightiness. What did explain it was what he was holding…_

"_Seifer!"_

_Looking up from the album, the drunken man grinned a bit at the shocked martial artist, "Chickie! Come join me! Pull up a bed!" _

_Dumbfounded, the tattooed man quickly gained his composer before storming in and ripping the half empty vodka bottle out of the drunkard's hand. _

"_Where did you get this!?"_

_Seifer's grin fell, a sour look now crossing his face. "Jeeze, if you wanted some you coulda ass'd. I woulda shar'd." _

"_Where. Did you. Get. This."_

_Seifer pointed over to his boxes of things, the grin returning, "Can't b'lieve you guys d'n't find it what when you were pack'n." _

_Zell growled, noting to himself to go through all of the other's stuff and make sure nothing more like this had sneaked through. First he had to dispose of this._

"_Where you going?"_

"_To dump this."_

_He didn't get far after that. A series of crashes and bangs from behind him caused him to turn, only to get plowed over by a brick wall. He'd managed to save the glass bottle from shattering, and the alcohol from spilling, but he was trapped under a very annoyed, very inihibriated, and very heavy Seifer. The larger blond was laying flat on top of him, but with his arms out at full length, Zell managed to keep the bottle out of the older man's reach. _

"_Give me the bottle, Chickie."_

"_Get off me, Seifer."_

"_Give me the bottle."_

"_Now."_

"_Not until you give me the bottle."_

"_I'm serious, Seifer. Get off!"_

"_Fine." Lifting himself up, Seifer placed both hands on either of the shoulders beneath him, legs trapping the other's. "There."_

"_What _there_!? Get off me!"_

_Seifer scoffed, easily keeping the smaller man pinned beneath him as he struggled. Normally Zell wouldn't have the slightest problem in throwing a man even twice Seifer's size off him, but the vodka he held was hindering his movement, he couldn't let the other seize it back. "What's the matter with having that anyways? I know you guys have drunk before." The entire cannibalism thing making his eye twitch. _

"_Cause we're in the student dorms! Not to mention that detainees aren't allowed those privileges." _

"_Well detainees aren't allowed out of the basement either but I've obviously been given an exception. And seriously Chickie… what student is going to come in here." Seifer raised an eyebrow. "I'm not leaving, you're not leaving. No body's coming. No body will know."_

"_Get off me, Almasy…"_

"_Not until you give me the bottle, Chickie."_

_Zell growled low as he stared at the bottle, only a little less than half of it missing. _

_The martial artist mentally kicked himself… he was going to regret this…_

And that's how he somehow ended up where he was, laughing at photos of a 3 year old Selphie and 4 year old Quistis messily trying to braid a 3 year old Irvine's hair, turning it into a tangled mess. The next picture was of a terrified Selphie and bawling Irvine, the little girl's figures painfully tangled in the long auburn locks. The final picture was of the same little boy, eyes drenched in tears, but now with short brown treads. Accompanying the shots was a clump of long tangled auburn hair.

"This is _amazing, _Seif!Where'd you get this?" Zell finally asked, flipping the page to look at various snapshots of all the kids playing on the beach. Squall moping off in a corner alone with just a pail and shovel. Selphie splashing wildly in the waves while Irvine tried to protect himself from the onslaught of water. Zell covering his head as he ran away from a sand baring Seifer, who in turn was getting chased after by a scowling and discipline ready Quistis.

"Matr'n." The large blond replied, flipping the next page. He was nestled just behind the smaller boy, chin resting on the other's shoulder for support as he looked down at the album. This was just a series of all the kids asleep, cute enough were even Seifer was drunk enough to almost coo at it. Quistis curled up in her comforter; thumb nestled securely between her lips. Irvine sprawled out, mouth wide open and a bit of drool escaping. An empty bed yet slept obviously slept in… Squall curled up tightly in his blanket, completely cocooned in his own little world. Selphie upside-down and tangled in her sheets. And finally, under the caption "There was a thunderstorm," Zell and Seifer curled up in a bed, a giant overstuffed chocobo trapped securely between the two.

Zell blushed red at the final picture before flipping the page, hoping Seifer hadn't seen that one yet. Unfortunately…

"Hehe… the thunder chickie was scared of lightning." Seifer commented, grinning down at the picture.

Zell's blush just deepened, eyes not moving up from the pictures. "I got over it…" Seifer turned his grin to the younger man, his nose brushing up against the tattooed cheek. They were so close… but Zell didn't seem to notice. He took another sip of his drink. "So ha' come she gave it to you?"

Seifer's shrugged, turning back to the book, "She gave it to me after I failed the SeeD exam the first time. I don't 'member her words at the moment," he glanced down at this almost empty drink. "but she gammi this."

Zell nodded, not questioning the explanation, what was the point? It made perfect sense! He flipped the page; they'd reached the birthday pictures. Zell at 2, Selphie at 2, Squall at 3, Quistis at 4, Irvine at 3, Seifer at 4, Zell at 3… and so on. "So you've had this f'over four years and you never told us?"

"Course not… what was I ganna say? 'Come on everyone! Let's party like we did when we were 5 again!'" He drained the rest of his drink, tossing his empty cup in the direction of the trashcan, but missed by at least 3 feet. "Look!" He pointed to a picture entitled 'Selphie's 4th' of himself shoving a large wad of cake in Irvine's face, causing the birthday girl to cry, the preschool Zell to look like his favorite toy was just smashed, Quistis's face to go beet red… and even Squall looked a bit upset over the destroyed cake. "Even back then everyone hated me."

"Maybe if you we're such a pain in the ass we'd have liked you more! I mean look!" Zell pointed at another birthday picture, 'Zell's 5th,' "you blew out all my candles! That's like… the best part!"

Seifer grinned again, mumbling, "I wonder if I got my wish…"

"What?"

"Nothing,"

Letting it slide, Zell flipped to the next page. This one had a title, "Young love." One picture was of Squall and Quistis; Squall was squatting in the large field of flowers looking up at the elder blonde standing over him, a single yellow tulip in her hand and held out to the boy. Another was of Selphie and Zell, the small boy desperately trying to escape from the bouncy girl who currently had her lips attached to his cheek. The next was of Selphie kissing a grinning Irvine's cheek, Zell standing the background desperately trying to wipe at his cheek. Another was of Zell and Seifer again curled up together and sleeping in a single bed, this time the overstuffed chocobo forgotten off to the side.

"She's got a lot of us in there." Zell jumped at the whisper that came directly into his ear. He jerked away, causing the unsteady gunblader to tumble as his leaning post disappeared. "Ow… why'd you move?"

"You scared me."

Seifer groaned as he attempted to sit back up, but ended up tipping over on to the bed again.

"You're drunk." Zell stated as the older man tried to sit back up again, in vein.  
"Usually what happens when you drink." And he tried a third time.

Zell shook his head as he stood up, wavering in his own step a bit… crap… he'd drunk more than he meant too. Looking down at his the cup still in his hand he found it completely empty. When did _that _happen!?

A hand suddenly grabbing onto his had him yanked back onto the bed, tumbling onto the garden issued sheets. Getting up he found impossible, not only because the sudden movements had caused his head to spin, but a heavy arm held him securely down.

"Seif… let me up."

"Gmm…" Was the grunted reply into the bed beneath them, but it wasn't a positive sounding one.

"Seif… come on…"

And again, the response was a grunt, but this time it was accompanied by the arm around him tightening, pulling him closer to the other body.

"Seif…!?"

The elder blond turned his face to the younger, eyes cracking open from their sleepy haze caused by the vodka. "Mm?"

"What are you doing?"

Seifer's eyes fell shut again, "Getting my wish..."

"…what?"

But Seifer had already fallen asleep, the alcohol finally taking over, with Zell still trapped in his arms.

TBC…

**AN: I'm sorry for the delay everyone!!! I had completely lost where I was going with this and I had to completely rethink it. I'm still not entirely sure… but we'll see where this takes us. **

**If this chapter sucks I apologize some more, but I've left you stranded for so long I figured I'd tell you I was still alive and still working on this. Thank you all who are still with me!**


	11. Chapter 10

**Plot: There were side effects from the magic caused by the Time compression, and now that Seifer's back, things are getting even more troublesome. **

**Warnings: Yaoi (SeiferXZell)**

**Disclaimer: Final Fantasy VII and all its characters are owned by Squaresoft or SquareEnix or whatever they want to call themselves. I'm making no money from this, but if you want to sue I've got a $20 bill and… (cleans out pocket) 16 cents. **

Tainted – Part 10

_"You summoned…" Seifer halted... "me…?"_

_"Yes, come in, Child." Edea answered, turning her attention to him from the entertainment in the middle of the room. Her knight slowly closed the door behind him, distracted and confused by the two strangers on the floor. "Ignore them; I have new orders for you."_

_Swallowing the lump in his throat, Seifer briskly walked past the two men—no… boys, and knelt before his mistress. Within the few weeks after he's left the garden and became Edea's knight, never before has he seen anyone else in her chambers, especially nothing of this sort…_

_"I have just been informed that Balamb Garden has evaded the missiles… by learning to fly." Seifer stayed silent as his sorceress spoke, although his eyes narrowed at this new information. Edea continued, "I was not anticipating this. I want you to go to Galbadia Garden and find out if it has the same ability. Then you are to personally hunt them down and finish off what those bumbling bunch of fools at the base couldn't." _

_"Yes, my mistress." Obediently taking her hand, Seifer pressed the lightest kiss to her knuckles. Standing up, he prepared to leave, but his attention caught the boys. Shaking it off, he quickly passed them, making his way back to the door. He was disturbed by this. _

_"Just a moment, Child." _

_His hand had just made it to the door as he stopped, turning back to his sorceress. "Yes, my Lady?"_

_She did not look at him; instead she was quite fixated on the two boys that were tangled together between them. Seifer watched his mistress, waiting for her words, but the moaning from the floor was distracting, and he was barely managing to keep his eyes straight. _

"_Those SeeDs from the parade…" she brought a hand up, resting her cheek in it's palm, eyes never leaving the boys, "...the blond boy, did you know him? The one with the tattoo..."_

_Seifer nodded, eyes straying to the room center as the smaller boy suddenly cried, the larger boy had just put his mouth on—Seifer looked back up to his mistress. "Yes, my Lady. Zell Dincht. We had a few classes together, and were on the same team during the final exam. But he's just a hot tempered mama's boy. Only reason he became a SeeD in the first place is because he followed Leonhart around." _

"_Hmm…" the sorceress never looked up from the boys, who were now making quite the exhibition, her pinky and ring finger began playing along her lips. "Thank you. You're dismissed."_

_Seifer hurried out of the room, closing the door hurriedly behind him. It would take him _weeks_ to get that image out of his head…_

Seifer shook his head, trying to clear his head of that memory, but instead all it did was throw him off balance.

"Oh… don't do that…" Zell moaned, clutching his own head and hiding his face in the kitchen table.

The morning had seen to Seifer waking up to this memory, one he hadn't thought of in a long time. But with the smaller blond still sleeping soundly within his arms, they began to resurface. He hold on Zell tightened… worried about what memories would surface. That woman had done a number on his mind, especially where the martial artist was concerned.

Zell was less than pleased when he woke up a bit later wrapped in the ex-knight. In fact it led to a series of screams, crashes and swear words till he found himself clutching his aching head in the kitchen and damning Seifer to a life of torment.

Now they sat in the kitchen. Seifer had prepared coffee and dry toast, but Zell just covered his nose and pushed it away.

"Eat something, you'll feel better." Seifer insisted, taking a bite of his own breakfast.

"My stomach is about to erupt all over the kitchen table, I'd rather not upset it more." Zell moaned, clutching his stomach with his head lying on the table.

"It won't make you hurl, trust me."

"No. I tried that last night and look how that turned out."

"At least drink something. If you do puke at least it'll be more than bile."

Zell was silent… then, "fine…"

Seifer stood to get the smaller blond a glass and warm water, placing it within the aching man's reach. With out lifting his head, Zell reached up and felt around for the glass, finally finding it and pulling it closer to his head.

"Stop aching like a baby, it's not that bad."

"Bite me."

Picking his head up, he sipped the glass… then began gulping. Who would have thought water could taste and feel this good.

"Slowly. It'll just make you're stomach worse if you chug."

Zell stopped, one arm still rapped around his stomach, feeling it gargle. Not good…

A piece of toast suddenly appeared in front of his face, "Eat it. It'll help absorb what's left in your stomach."

Tentatively… Zell did as he was told, and found that as disgusting as try toast is, it did make his stomach feel better.

10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10

_BANGBANGBANGBANGBANGBANGBANG-_

"What!?" Seifer screamed as he tore the front door off it's hinge, _anything _to get that obsessive banging to stop. Big mistake…

Selphie stood before him, a big smile on her face as she beamed up at the man. Her arms packed with all sorts of giant paper pads, blue prints, pencils, bags and god knew what else.

"Hi Seifie!" He flinched at the high pitched voice, the light ache in his head throbbing for a second, "you missed the committee meeting last night so I thought I'd update you!" Squeezing past him like a rat would under a door, she dumped her arm loads on the kitchen table, "Where's Zell?"

"Sleeping." He groaned, shutting the door behind him.

"But it's 2:00 in the afternoon!"

"We had a long night, so quiet it down, will you?"

The bouncy girl's eye's suddenly lit up, sparkles glittering like mad. That was not something you should say in front of the gossip queen. "Oh… like what?"

"I'll tell you about it tomorrow, alright?" He just wanted her to go away!

"Promise?"

"Yeah, sure."

"Ok!" Gathering up all her plans and models, she disappeared as quickly as she came. "See you tomorrow!"

Seifer sighed and shook his head. It was unbelievable how much energy that girl had, and once again he wished best of luck to Irvine.

Creeping over to the closed bedroom, he cracked the door open to see if the brunette had woken the other up. It had taken the poor hung-over man nearly two hours of fighting down vomit to finally fall back asleep, he didn't need to be woken up again.

But Zell still slept, unmoved from the position he'd finally fallen asleep in. Stepping softly, Seifer made his way and knelt beside the bed. He ran gentle fingers through a few of the natural spikes, taking in the texture and memorizing the feel. He was too drunk to remember much about the other blond last night, so he took it all in now. His smell, the feel of his skin, his face close up, the intricate pattern of his tattoo, the sound of his gentle breathing… the only thing left to wonder, was how he tasted. Was it like the hotdogs he ate constantly? His breath didn't smell of them, so maybe not.

Leaning in slowly, he found out. Gently, feeling the sleeping man's breath mingling with his, he brought their lips together. It was not the soft plush lips he had expected, nor was it warm and tasty. Instead, it was quiet painful, as soon as their lips came in contact a shock startled him away. If it had been anyone else, he would have laughed at the irony. When most people share their first kiss, they hope for that spark of electricity, marking them as finally meeting their one and only. Well Seifer certainly felt a shock… but it wasn't lovingly in the least.

TBC…

**AN::Dodges rocks:: I know it's short! I know it's been a while! I'm trying! I'm still here! I'm still updating! And look, look! SxZ lurve! Don't hate me! **


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